Spelling Bee

Each year Reaching Heights sponsors a community spelling bee for adults. Three-person teams pay $500 to enter the bee. Proceeds from this friendly competition go directly into the Heights schools through Reaching Heights grants. The first bee was held in 1992 and the annual gathering has generated over $190,000 that Reaching Heights invested in the Heights schools through grant programs.

Reaching Heights Trustee Deanne Lentz with
members of the OOPS team, the 2007 winners!
Carolyn Warner, Lisa Barko & Beth Woodside.

Up to 24 teams can compete. All kinds of teams find their way to the stage at Heights High -teachers, lawyers, librarians, local merchants, musicians, elected officials, developers, PTA sponsored parent-teacher teams and church and university affiliated spellers. Loud cheering sections add to the festivities.

Thank you to the Brave Spellers who competed in the
16th Annual Adult Community Spelling Bee on April 24, 2007!

16th Reaching Heights Spelling Bee Another Winner!

By 8:57PM on Tuesday night, April 24, the contest was over! The Orchestra Orthographers Prognosticate Success (OOPS), got it right again! For the second year in a row a team of Cleveland Orchestra musicians from Cleveland Heights, Beth Woodside, Carolyn Warner, and Lisa Boyko, won the Reaching Heights Community Spelling Bee.

Thanks to the City of Cleveland Heights and the Cedar Lee SID, the top team will celebrate their victory with dinner on Lee Road and a night at Cain Park.

In less than 90 minutes members of each spelling team shared their collective wisdom about how to spell a total of 88 words. The competition was decided by a few letters, but they were critical! By the end of the 6 th round, the field had narrowed to three teams. In the 7 th round the word tinnient stumped St. Paul’s Episco-spellians. The team made up of Pat Cangelosi-Williams, Alana Andrews and William Vodrey took 3 rd place and left Upper Case and OOPS to battle it out for the gaudy yellow bee trophy. In the 8 th round Case faculty members Pat Crago, Jeff Janata, and Lynn Singer stumbled on bathyseism while OOPS hung on to correctly spell supercilious and earn first place.

The 16th annual bee involved 23 teams of three spellers each. Each team is expected to pay an entry fee of at least $500 to earn the chance to compete. The Squire Sanders and Dempsey Team paid their fee but was not able to participate, only the second time that bee pace setter Geoffrey Barnes has missed the competition.

Individuals sponsored 19 words in the bee, and there were six bee sponsors who gave $250 to $500 to the bee. Proceeds from the friendly competition support School Team Grants – a Reaching Heights program that provides grants to CH-UH teachers and staff for innovative strategies to bolster student achievement.

Big Fun owner Steve Presser once again served as emcee for the evening. Notre Dame College theater professor Tony Zupancic and The Rev. Dr. Louise Westfall, pastor of Fairmount Presbyterian Church, took turns pronouncing the words. Judges for the competition were Federal District Court Judge Solomon Oliver, Federal Probation Officer Suzanne Wilkins, art history lecturer Christie Borkan, and Seitz Agin Hardware owner Joel Borwick. Barbara Wherley chaired the Bee committee and took charge of the pre-bee reception for spellers. Technology specialist Steve Titchenal projected the words so the audience could keep track of the spelling.

The line up included six PTA-sponsored teams from eight schools. Boulevard, Fairfax and Noble elementary schools and Heights High had their own teams, while Gearity paired with Wiley Middle and Roxboro Elementary teamed with Roxboro Middle School. Coventry Word Outlaws is a joint Coventry parent and merchant entry. They competed with the Board of Education members and teachers on the Cleveland Heights Teachers Union Team.

A new entry from Notre Dame College joined the higher education crew from Case. The Heights Library, another key educational institution, also fielded a team. The ever present Perennials, led by City Council member Nancy Dietrich, spelled as did another regular entry, the Presbee Spellers from Forest Hill Church. Lawyers competed on the long-standing Thompson Hine LLP team. They were joined by new teams from Ulmer and Berne and from Benesch Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff.

The Sweet 16+ team sponsored by A.M. McGregor Home was made up of members of the Cleveland Heights Commission on Aging. A team that includes Heights High students and alumni sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, was joined by another Heights alumni crew, the Comeback Kids!

Bonnie Speed Delivery was a key bee sponsor donating $500! Additional bee donors in the $250 category included Huron Hospital, Motorcars Honda, Toyota & Scion, and Reilly Painting and Contracting. Lana Cowell and the Canterbury Elementary PTA did not field teams this year but helped sponsor the bee. The final round of words was funded at $200 each by Superintendent Deborah Delisle, Stephen and Nancy Marcus, and Don and Donalene Poduska.

Reaching Heights awarded the Friend of Public Education Award to Don and Donalene Poduska for their roles in establishing the spelling bee as a much loved community event and reliable resource for Reaching Heights grants for school-based innovation in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights public schools.

All the spellers were treated to a light supper prepared by Sandy Danziger, Maryann Posch, Barbara Wherley, and Christie Borkan with food donations rounded up by Theresa Eke from Dave’s and Giant Eagle.

A raffle with great gifts donated by Joyce Collins, Deanne Lentz, Barbara Schubert, Beth Sersig, Big Fun, Borders, The Cleveland Orchestra and Target added to the fun and income generated from the event. The Heights High Drum Line members Joey Fox, Justin Mauter and Samara Wright and the Heights Tiger, exhibited by Reggie Evans brought extra spirit to the evening.

The bee will be back - Plan to attend on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at Cleveland Heights High School!